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Korea, U.S., Japan arranging 3-way talks at ASEAN meetings in Malaysia: Sources

Published: 10 Jul. 2025, 17:46 Updated: 10 Jul. 2025, 18:29

Delegates attend the 2nd Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27. [AP/YONHAP]

Korea, the United States and Japan are arranging to hold three-way talks among their senior diplomats in Malaysia, diplomatic sources said Thursday.

The talks, if held, will take place among First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, on the sidelines of multilateral meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Kuala Lumpur.

The three sides were fine-tuning the details to hold the meeting, possibly on Friday, the sources said.

The envisioned talks come as Seoul has been negotiating with Washington over steep U.S. tariffs to avoid or minimize the impact on its key industries, a measure that has also been affecting Tokyo.

The talks would mark the first high-level meeting among the senior diplomats of the three countries since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung government in early June, underscoring their continued commitment to the trilateral partnership built under their previous governments.

Park would join the talks in place of the foreign minister, as the nomination procedure is still under way pending parliamentary confirmation.

Yonhap